>His brother Prince Naif, head of the Interior Ministry, has led a crackdown on the Saudi media in the wake of the demonstrations to stop any word of them leaking out.<
speaking of oxymorons, how could the Minister of the Interior be a "naif"?
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Murray [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2002 7:52 PM
> To: pen-l
> Subject: [PEN-L:28698] Saudi Arabia
>
>
> Britons left in jail amid fears that Saudi Arabia could fall
> to al-Qaeda
>
> Martin Bright, Nick Pelham and Paul Harris
> Sunday July 28, 2002
> The Observer
>
> Saudi Arabia is teetering on the brink of collapse, fuelling
> Foreign Office fears of an extremist
> takeover of one of the West's key allies in the war on terror.
>
> Anti-government demonstrations have swept the desert kingdom
> in the past months in protest at the
> pro-American stance of the de facto ruler, Prince Abdullah.
>
> At the same time, Whitehall officials are concerned that
> Abdullah could face a palace coup from
> elements within the royal family sympathetic to al-Qaeda.
>
> Saudi sources said the Pentagon had recently sponsored a
> secret conference to look at options if the
> royal family fell.
>
> Demonstrations across the kingdom broke out in March,
> triggered by a fire in a girls' school in
> which 14 pupils died after the religious police stopped them escaping.
>
> Unrest in the east of the country rapidly escalated into
> nationwide protests against the royal
> family that were brutally suppressed by the police. The
> Observer has obtained secret video footage
> of the protests smuggled out of the country last week that
> shows hundreds of Saudis, including
> women, demonstrating in support of the Palestinians and
> opposition to the regime.
>
> The Foreign Office believes that the failure of Abdullah's
> recent Middle East peace plan could have
> terminally undermined his position.
>
> The Crown Prince's main rival, Prince Sultan, the Defence
> Minister, has been vocal in his opposition
> to Abdullah's pro-Western policy. His brother Prince Naif,
> head of the Interior Ministry, has led a
> crackdown on the Saudi media in the wake of the
> demonstrations to stop any word of them leaking out.
>
> Abdullah has even sent his own representative to Washington
> to counter the influence of the
> ambassador, Prince Bandar, a son of Prince Sultan.
>
> Anti-Abdullah elements within the Saudi government are also
> thought to have colluded in a wave of
> bomb attacks on Western targets by Islamic terrorists.
>
> The authorities have blamed the attacks on an alleged 'turf
> war' between Westerners involved in the
> bootleg alcohol trade and have jailed five Britons, a
> Canadian and a Belgian for the bombings. But
> British intelligence sources have confirmed that the attacks
> were carried out by Islamists linked to
> al-Qaeda.
>
> Earlier this year, the accused men were handed sentences
> ranging from execution to long prison
> terms. But lawyers acting for the Britons have told The
> Observer that they could soon be free.
>
> The tensions between the royal factions will intensify with
> the death of King Fahd. The condition of
> the king, in hospital in Switzerland, is 'unstable', doctors said.
>
> British-based Saudi dissident Dr Saad al-Fagih said: 'There
> is now an undeclared war between the
> factions in the Saudi royal family.'
>
>
